3 Collective actors, representativeness and
RECOGNITION
In the Netherlands, at the national level, there are three employers’ associations: VNO-
NCW for the larger and medium-sized enterprises (affiliated at the European level to
UNICE), MKB Nederland for small and medium-sized enterprises (affiliated at the
European level to UEAPME) and LTO Nederland for agriculture (affiliated at the
European level to COPA). Employers are in general relatively well organised: among
larger companies the association level is at almost 100 percent, for the whole economy
between 50 and 60 percent of all firms is a member of an association. Smaller firms are
organised to a substantially lower degree. There are also three national-level labour
confederations: the social-democratic FNV, the Christian-democratic CNV and the white-
collar Unie MHP. FNV and CNV are affiliated at the European level to ETUC. About 28
percent of Dutch workers are organised; in international perspective union density in the
Netherlands is fairly moderate, about one quarter if trade union members is non-active.
Independent unionism exists and is important in health services, railways, air transport,
construction and public services. All national-level organisations, both the employers and
the unions, are ‘federations of federations’; they represent sector-level, independent
employers’ associations and labour unions, which do the actual collective bargaining to
which the firms are affiliated directly. Below, we will discuss the employers’ associations
and trade unions in the road transport and aviation sectors.
3.1 Employers’ ASSOCIATIONS AND LABOUR UNIONS IN ROAD TRANSPORT
Employers’ associations
The representation of employers demonstrates the fragmentation of the sector according
to economic activity, but all employers’ associations are affiliated to the national-level
VNO-NCW. There are two 'umbrella' organisations for the road transport sector in the
Netherlands, KNV and TLN. Both organisations represent the interests of their members
on trade as well as social issues and both organisations are members of the national
employers’ association VNO-NCW, which is again a member of UNICE, and of the
European International Road Union (IRU).
Transport and Logistics Netherlands (Transport en Logistiek Nederland, TLN) is the
sectoral organisation for companies active in the road haulage of freight. TLN represents
its members at the collective bargaining table as well as in the development of transport
policies, and is affiliated to the IRU.
The Royal Dutch Transport (Koninklijk Nederlands Vervoer, KNV) is the employers'
association for companies active in people's transport. The association mainly represents
firms in passenger's transport but also has a division for the road haulage of freight. The
internal organisation also reflects the distinction between the various subsectors in